<span style="color: #222222;">In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, today exhorted upon the officers to work with added dedication and proactive approach for smooth and successful conduct of District Development Council and Panchayat by-elections. Advisor said this while reviewing election preparations and winter preparedness in Kupwara district during a meeting today.<br />''<br />''Advisor directed the concerned officers to ensure availability of all basic amenities at the designated polling stations including uninterrupted power and water supply and toilet points besides making proper heating arrangements. He also reviewed the status of election preparations including location of polling stations, establishment of strong rooms, election training, deployment and return of polling staff.<br />''<br />''Advisor asked for conducting a Rapid COVID test for employees detailed for election duty besides emphasizing the need for strict adherence to COVID SOPs. There are 385 panchayat halqas in the district, 14 DDC constituencies, 32 Sarpanch and 782 Panch vacant seats in the district for which 1181 polling stations have been established at 581 locations. About 5000 polling staff have been deployed.</span><br />